1583-1 EXPULSION OF MENDOZA. 357 secretary who was employed upon the duty, ' to deal in these causes that are so perplexed, especially to such as are not accustomed to swim between two waters. The care that is to be taken is that her honour may be preserved, and yet her turn served in this her pleasure.' 1 She had her own notions of honour and of the means to preserve it. Once more and this time in serious earnest she sent orders for Norris and the volunteers to leave the Provinces, 2 while she directed Captain Bingham, an officer of her own navy, to go out into the Channel and there seize the best of the ships of the States as a punishment for their want of grati- tude, ' considering the extraordinary favours which she had shown them/
- You will apprehend/ she said, 'any ships which you
may discover to be richly laden, either passing west- wards or returning homewards ; you will encounter with them and assail them, yet without force if it con- veniently may be. Assure yourself beforehand what substance is in any ship or ships, so as the prize may countervail the debt, and also all such other charges as may in justice be demanded. The interest now amounts to thirty-five or thirty-six thousand pounds. If you the King of Spain's subjects. She never otherwise liked of any of their proceedings, and from time to time in her own writings, taketh and nameth them so.' Lawrence Tom- son to Mr Hammond, August 13 : MSS. Holland. 1 Ibid. 2 She offered Norris the marshal- ship of Berwick, as a reward for his past service, but thrifty in her liber- ality, she required five or six hun- dred pounds for it, and the bargain was too hard for him. Norris to Burghley, September 13 : MSS. Holland.
